Small Blessings Semillon 2017

$35.00

47

Cases Produced

41

Cases Remaining Online

Harvest Notes

The
2017 vintage got off to a slower start with cool days and a lot of
precipitation leading to flood conditions throughout the Valley. Bud break
started around 14 days later than either 2015 or 2016, but only a couple of
days off of the average of the last 15 years. Once the weather turned we were
in for months of hot, dry conditions and the vineyards had no problem catching
up, hitting all of the key developmental stages as expected. However, with the
drought conditions came several forest fires throughout BC, Washington State
and California. The smoke provided a mixed bag; it had the beneficial effect of
buffering the heat through the most intense days of the summer helping to
moderate the accumulation of sugars and loss of acid, but it also led to more
humid days and increased disease pressure – extreme diligence in the vineyard
was rewarded by healthy and clean fruit. Warm days and cool nights signalled
the approach of harvest, allowing for great evolution of flavour without any
spikes in sugars while maintaining bracing acidity in the fruit. The Semillon
was harvested at 22.6° Brix, 5.3g/L TA, and pH
3.38.

Winemaking

On
October 16, the fruit was hand harvested from the Sitrus Hill Vineyard on the
northern shores of Osoyoos Lake and brought into the winery where it was destemmed
before being pressed to tank. After settling for 24 hours, the juice was racked
into two French oak barrels, one second fill and one fourth fill, for
fermentation and aging. Once fermentation was complete, the lees were stirred
periodically to build the mouthfeel of the wine. The wine remained on its lees
for 9 months before being racked in preparation for bottling. The
objective with these barrels of Semillon was to create a blending partner for
our Sauvignon Blanc; however, we loved the direction that the wine was taking
and were excited to see what it would evolve into so we decided to keep the two
barrels aside and bottle them in our Small Blessings Series.